Old truck adventures

[Jeff396]

Gee, I never would have picked a '64 T-bird to be appealing to a 16 year old kid. Yep, my car comes with the 390 ci big block. Seems like it should be a monster but it is really only adequate to get its fat overweight 4800 lbs carcus moving! I believe the 428 became an option in the T-bird in '66.

Jeff

 

[Ozarker]

A word of caution. The ign wire to the coil is a resistance wire reducing the voltage to 9v in a breaker system. The wire for the electronic ignition is not resistance and delivers 12v. I learned this the hard way when I switched one from electronic to breaker back in the mid 70's.

A friend had a dodge of some sort, I don't remember which one, and it had the breakerless distributor. It quit working and, since we were in Germany, he couldn't find any parts for it. He was getting close to coming back to the states so I told him we could probably get a breaker type from the junk yard and make it work. Then, when he got it back to the states, he could get the original distributor repaired and put back in.

It worked like a champ for about two days, then the points burned up. Too much voltage. I went back to the junk yard, got a ballast resistor off a Mercedes and put it on. Worked like a champ and he was able to get the car shipped back home a few weeks later. I showed him what I did so he could show the mechanic in the US what to take back off when he fixed it.

I caught up with him a couple of years later at Ft Leonard Wood and darned if he wasn't driving the same car with the breaker ignition and Mercedes resistor still on it. I asked him why he didn't get the original distributor put back in and he said if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You will have the opposite problem replacing a breaker ignition with an OEM breakerless system. You won't have enough voltage and the spark plugs will fire weak. Possibly causing the engine to run rough and not idle well. Not sure if that will be a problem with an after market system. Probably not since they will be designed for your application.

 

[bgott]

Now that I looked back at your post I realize you have the '57 with a flathead six. Duh!! I focused on the post with the 66' and a 318. That distributor in the flathead is gonna be a tough one to update. Your best bet is to first make sure your vacuum and mechanical advaces are free and working. Check them by feel and use the vacuum hose trick to check the operation of the vacuum advance. Then hook up a timing light and rev the engine while watching the marks. You ought to be able to watch it advance. Next, take it to a shop and have it scoped. A good scope operator can watch the dwell line and tell how much slop there is in the distributor. If your distributor is tight and the dwell line isn't bouncing all over the place, I'd keep the points. The easiest way to set your points is to mark the distributor base and then loosen it up so you can turn the distributor and get the points up on a cam lobe. It's a pain to keep bumping the starter trying to hit the right spot. Set your points before you set your timing, If I remember it right having your points off two degrees of dwell throws your timing off one degree. People lived with points for years, they just take a little more maintenance than the electronic ignitions.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I see something else lurking under a sheet in the garage. Does that machine house the 396? By the way, I've got an '85 C20 pick-up that only weighs 4500lbs. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Jeff396]

Yes, that's my (soon to not be mine) '65 Corvette big block. I just got a decent offer on it the other day and am just waiting for an appraisal to be done. Oh well, it hurts less than when my Harley went./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

4500 lbs......they sure made 'em svelt in those days, didn't they?

Jeff

 

[s1120]

OK, I got to say. The Vets nice, but that Tbird's got the CLASS! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Jeff396]

Too true!! SS1120, I was meaning to ask you where did you get the disk brake conversion for your 'Stang. I would like to get the same thing for the Bird but I am concerned that a dual resivoir master cylinder won't fit in my car. It's got a lot of bracing under the hood since it's the convertible. You won't believe this but there is probably less rome to work under the hood of that car than your Mustang. I was almost unable to replace a power steering hose because I couldn't get a wrench near it on the power steering pump. I ended up scraping my arm all to heck but managed it./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff

 

[Jeff396]

Also, what method did you use to strip the paint from the engine compartment? I really don't want to go near sand blasting if I don't have to.

Jeff

 

[s1120]

Jeff,
As fot the engine compartment. We just used paint stripper, putty knifes, and at lot of work.[Wife did most of it./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif]. Came out REAL nice. The dics are from a MACHI. Swaps right on. I know a lot of people use a compny called Master Power Brake. They can retrofit almost anything. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My partner just used a Master Power conversion kit for his '67 Cougar. It looks like good quality parts. Dual piston calipers too. Even though I didn't deal with the company personally, I know that they were very professional after the sale. The kit they sold him was for Mustangs, and the company told him they had little experience with Cougars. They worked with him to make the kit fit, and took back the parts that wouldn't fit. I will use them for my '65 convertible Mustang.